Cooking gives me a chance to expand my creativity and sense of taste. For someone who gets easily bored with food, learning and trying many combinations of ingredients, spices, and herbs is important. Recently I tried to expand my salad creativity. Though preparing salad isn’t cooking, finding a good balance and combination of color, taste, and texture matters as much as it is in cooking.

One day I had been in the mood for a hearty salad. I had couscous, garbanzo beans, grape tomatoes, baby arugula, and artichoke hearts. For the vinaigrette, I wanted something lemony and tangy but with a kick. I thought of my good friend Deniz while making this salad. Many moons ago, she taught me that couscous and garbanzo beans (and other fresh veggies too) made such a good combo.